It was dark. It was terribly dark, or at least most of the time. The Pokeball was slightly translucent, so I could tell day from night. I could also hear through the ball; that was designed so I would be ready for battle at any given time.

This was one of those times.

"Return, Scyther!" Darmon commanded. "Go, Pidgey!"

My Pokeball, with me inside it, was instantly hurled through the air. I could feel the shock of the ground as the ball met the earth. The top half of the Pokeball flew open. All of a sudden, everything was flooded with light. I closed my small eyes tight.

When I finally opened them, I realized I was no longer in the undying gloom and confinement of the Pokeball. I now standing on a small patch of grass, and facing my opponent. I had just been hurled into a Pokemon battle. I quickly turned my feathered head ninety degrees to see who my opponent would be.

It turned out to be a seemingly worn out Hitmonchan. It was breathing heavily, like it had just fought a huge battle, which it probably had. I didn't want to have to face the Hitmonchan that could beat Darmon's Scyther. But here I was, face to face with it.

"Hitmonchan, hit it with a Mega Punch!" our opponent told his Hitmonchan the instant he saw my form emerge from the ball.

Hitmonchan instantly removed that tired expression from its face and lashed out at me with a huge fist. I was taken by surprise by the sudden attack; I wasn't ready to defend yet.

"Pidgey, use Sand Attack!" Darmon commanded.

I think that it's an automatic Pokemon reaction. Whenever a Pokemon hears an order from his or her master, they just Ihave/I to follow it immediately. It was almost a reflex. So, as soon as I heard Darmon's voice, I snapped into a 'battle mode' and flew a foot or so in the air, just enough to get off a decent Sand Attack, like the ones we'd learned back at Battle Class.

I quickly flapped my wings and grainy sand flew from the ground to the general vicinity of Hitmonchan's face. Hitmonchan immediately stopped punching wildly and clutched its face in pain.

"Pidgey, finish it with a Gust attack!"

Just like last time, I immediately started this attack as soon as the words reached my brain. I flapped some more to gain altitude. As soon as I was at about tree branch level, I built up strength in my wings for a Gust attack.

Gust was always the attack I'd had the most trouble with back at Battle School. Tackle was a basic attack; any half-competent Pokemon with a solid body could perform it easily. Sand Attack also came naturally to all Flying and Ground type Pokemon. Gust, too, was supposed to be basic for bird Pokemon. But it was actually very complicated and difficult; one had to have certain wing strength and then know how to expertly aim the wild, and at times, uncontrollable tornado of destructive wind.

I felt the muscles in my wings tense up. They were about to flap at a swift speed to get the Gust to hit my intended target. But everything went wrong. First, I felt my wings get too tight. No! It wasn't going to work! I quickly tried to cover up my mistake, but it was evidently too late. The lame Gust Attack flew at a nearby tree. Hitmonchan, who had now recovered from Sand Attack, stood up questioningly. It had expected to be hit with a savage Gust, but instead didn't even feel a nice breeze. It was one of those times when I just wanted to go hide; I had just messed up big time.

Then, my sharp eyes caught movement on the tree that my Gust had accidentally hit. Then I realized that it wasn't movement Ion/I the tree, it Iwas/I the tree. Out of pure luck, the Gust had started to shatter the tree! I was slightly relieved that I could now appear half-smart, and that my Gust wasn't totally wasted.

Without being told, I got ready for another Gust. My opponent had no idea what was happening; he didn't have my acute raptor vision.

"Hitmonchan, hit it with a Thunderpunch!"

Suddenly, one of Hitmonchan's fists flashed with lightning. Thunderpunch was a good attack on bird Pokemon because it could reach up into the sky; the electricity would almost instantly barbecue me like a fried chicken. However, I had other plans...

I fired yet another Gust at the tree. That last Gust sapped all the strength out of me and I almost fell out of the sky with the effort. But it was enough. With an audible crack, the medium sized oak tree trunk started to teeter, and begin its descent on Hitmonchan.

"Hit? Mon! Monchanchanchanchan!" Hitmonchan yelled as the he finally noticed the tree collapsing on him. Unfortunately for him, he didn't notice the tree early enough to have any real chance of escape.

"Pidgey!" I squawked with victory as soon as the Hitmonchan fainted. I flew, or dropped, to the ground. Gust is a particularly tiring attack, and I had just performed three good ones in a row. I was exhausted. I landed on the ground and gave my wings a well-deserved rest.

"Pidgey! Way to go, buddy!" Darmon was running over to where I was resting. He knelt down next to me. "You beat him!"

{Yeah, I know,} I said tiredly.

"I really wish I could understand what you were saying, Pidgey," Darmon said honestly as he started checking to see if I was hurt.

What? Couldn't he understand me at all? {Darmon? Can you hear me?}

"Okay, you can stop that, it's getting annoying," he replied.

He obviously couldn't. I don't know what he perceived my talking as. Probably squawking...

"Let's go. That was a good fight, but we need to work on having you learn Wing Attack," Darmon said as he unclipped my Pokeball dungeon from his belt. He aimed the Pokeball at me and pushed the small white button on the front of it. A red beam hurried to where I was resting.

Suddenly, I felt suction, like a giant vacuum. He was recalling me to the Pokeball again; there was no point resisting. So I didn't. Once again, I fell into the eternal darkness of the Pokeball.

---

"Thanks, Joy. Okay, everyone! Time to come out!" Darmon said excitedly.

All of a sudden, I felt the same way as I had when I had been called out in that battle against the Hitmonchan. Once again, I shielded my eyes from the intense light. However, this time, I knew what to expect and the light didn't seem so extreme anymore.

I looked around. I was standing on a tile floor along with Darmon's two other Pokemon. Besides Scyther, Darmon's other Pokemon was a lonely looking Mareep. It was standing away from Scyther, which was understandable, but it looked like it had been taken away from its family and friends and missed them dearly. Just like me.

{Uh, hi, my name's Pie. What's your name?} I asked shyly.

{Oh. Hi. My name's Lomie,} the Mareep replied, with equal shyness.

{Nice to meet you,} I responded, almost diplomatically. {How long have you belonged to Darmon?}

{A little bit longer than you. Darmon captured me from the hills north of your meadow. We called it Haven Hills, because it was so beautiful. I really miss my family there,} Lomie answered sadly, with a small hint of tears in her faraway eyes.

{I know how you feel. I was taken from my family and friends too,} I told Lomie. I reached my wing over to comfort her. Suddenly, I felt a little jolt in my wing and quickly jerked it back in surprise. {Why'd you shock me?!}

{Sorry!} Lomie replied immediately. {I-I didn't mean to. My wool is kind of staticky today.}

At that instant, the Nurse Joy came over to us. "How is everyone feeling?"

Everyone gave his or her replies thankfully.

{Great!} exclaimed Lomie.

{Fine, thanks,} I replied.

{Go away,} said Scyther spitefully.

Fortunately for Scyther, Nurse Joy was a human and humans couldn't understand Pokemon languages. Joy reached over to check up on us. First, she placed Mareep next to an electricity gauge and measured how much electricity was stored in her wool.

Next, she placed me on a large plastic plate and examined all of my feathers to make sure none were missing or seriously damaged. "Pidgey, you'll be fine. All you need is a little time to recover, and you'll be good as new."

I squawked a {Thank you} and hopped from the plate to the tiled floor. Then, I saw Scyther, who was sitting on the ground, staring angrily at me. I guess Scyther was mad because it had to go last. Thinking that there would be greater safety in numbers, I hurried over to where Mareep was eating an apple. {So, how'd you get separated from your family enough for Darmon to catch you?}

{Well, uh, I was kind of not supposed to be where I was,} Lomie replied. {I was off on my own; I was chasing a Yanma that I'd just found. I guess I lost track of time and got separated. Then Darmon found me and caught me.}

{Don't sweat it. Heh, Darmon caught me because I flew into a tree and passed out!} I said, relieved to finally tell someone the truth.

"Mar! Eep, eep!" Lomie laughed. I laughed along with her.

Suddenly, the Pokemon Center went black. "Mwahahaha!"

{Huh?}

"Hand over all of your Pokemon!" a strange human voice yelled. "Team Rocket will now take every single Pokemon that you have!"

"Lomie, use Flash!" I heard Darmon command from ten feet or so away.

Automatically, Lomie's wool expanded and lit up the entire room brilliantly. I immediately spotted "Team Rocket". It was about five humans and a few Pokemon. The humans were dressed very oddly, with large "R"s on the front of their shirts. When Lomie lit up the room, they seemed to be slightly blinded by the light and they started arguing among themselves.

"Hey, you idiot! I told you to leave the lights off!"

"I did! I mean, I didn't! I mean, it wasn't me! I didn't do anything, please don't hurt me!"

"Shut up, both of you! This is important!"

"What? You can't tell me what to do!"

"Yeah, you can't tell us what to do!"

"Well, switch the lights off again already!"

"I told you, I never turned them on!"

"Huh?"

Lomie and I exchanged questioning glances. We were in consensus that humans were definitely not the brightest species.

"Mareep! Let's kick them out of here with a Thunderbolt!" Darmon commanded.

Lomie's wool shone even brighter than before and a blast of flashing electricity flew from her back onto Team Rocket.

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"

"Diglett, Dig!" one of the Rockets commanded. His Diglett started burrowing underground. The mole Pokemon and its trainer instantly disappeared. The rest of the Rockets weren't smart enough to use their Pokemon, so they just ran away, yelling for an ambulance to save them.

Yep, humans (especially these) were horribly dense.

"Good work, Mareep!" Darmon awarded, as soon as the Pokemon Center lights flashed back on.

Before anyone had time to react, a large hole appeared right underneath Lomie. "Eep!" Lomie squealed as she fell into the seemingly endless pit.

A few seconds after Lomie had disappeared, I heard an evil, sinister voice laughing. "Mwahahaha, that Pidgey is next!"